何必
hé​bì HSK7

no need

何 hé what

Original meaning: shoulder a burden

Depiction of a man carrying an axe on over his shoulders. The right side of the form was later phoneticized into 可. The current meaning "what" is a phonetic loan.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

Change in meaning
亻 hints at the original meaning of 何, "shoulder a burden", which is no longer the most common meaning of 何 in modern Mandarin.
可
可 Sound component
kě able to

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

荷

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartha[g]ˤaj what

說文解字

《說文》：“何，儋也。从人，可聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

必 bì surely

Original meaning: weapon handle

Pictograph of a weapon handle, now written as 柲. 八 was later added as a decorative mark. Similar to 戈 but without the blade. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (5 of 10 verified)

秘瑟泌谧宓毖铋祕謐柲

Iconic (1)

柲

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpjitpi[t] necessarily

說文解字

《說文》：“必，分極也。从八、弋，弋亦聲。”

Sources

Character origin
林志強《《文源》評注》p.441漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)